Ex-wife becomes the world's number one hacker

Jiang Yin paused. She knew what Tang Ning meant. Her previous refusal of Jian Tingyun's cooperation proved that she didn't want to associate with anyone closely related to Qin Heming.

However, that group of people happens to control the most resources, and excluding them means losing many opportunities.

Jiang Yin pondered for a moment, then looked up and said confidently, "We can cooperate with any of Qin Heming's friends who come to us on their own initiative."

He paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth and added, "Even the Qin family is acceptable."

"But," Jiang Yin raised an index finger and shook it, "the Gu and Lin families are absolutely against it."

"I understand," Tang Ning smiled. "Li Tianmu somehow got my phone number and has been trying to add me on WeChat. I was afraid it would bother you, so I haven't accepted."

Jiang Yin immediately perked up, sat up abruptly, and frantically tapped Tang Ning's phone, repeatedly saying, "Add! Add quickly!"

Then, with clear eyes, she slowly uttered four words: "Pioneer Square".

Tang Ning nodded, smiling without saying a word.

Early in their market research, they had already decided that the best way to conduct offline retail in the future was to enter large chain shopping malls. Looking across the country, Pioneer Plaza was undoubtedly the optimal choice. It leads by a wide margin in both scale and quantity, covering third-tier and above cities nationwide, making it a strategic location that brands cannot bypass.

Pioneer Plaza is a property owned by the Li family!

Tang Ning took the phone and clicked "agree".

He then stood up, looked around, and asked, "Is there anything to eat? I haven't had lunch yet."

Jiang Yin paused abruptly, feeling embarrassed.

He was so busy lost in thought that he forgot to ask Tang Ning if he was coming back for dinner, or if he needed anything prepared for him.

It's already past one o'clock in the afternoon.

She glanced at the food Qin Heming had packed and asked Tang Ning, "Is this okay? He brought it; are you not satisfied?"

Without saying a word, Tang Ning took the food and unpacked it.

He said, "What's there to complain about? The food is innocent."

Before the packaging box was even fully unpacked, a message from Li Tianmu arrived with a "ding."

It's a blurry photo.

Tang Ning zoomed in on the photo, examined it carefully, and then clapped his hands and burst into laughter.

Jiang Yin leaned closer to take a look and saw Tang Ning's blurry profile on the screen, clearly indicating that the lighting was extremely poor when the filming took place.

In addition, the photo angle is also very strange, as if it was taken from above Tang Ning's back.

"When was this photo taken? You look so young."

Tang Ning stopped laughing. "It was from my second year of high school. I know who he is now, hahaha, a crybaby."

After Tang Ning's explanation, Jiang Yin learned the whole story.

.......

At that time, Tang Ning was a high school sophomore. One midnight after the rain, he went to the mountains as usual to pick cicada flowers—a precious medicinal herb unique to the area.

This medicinal herb can only be harvested at midnight, and then you have to walk twenty miles of mountain road to get it to the town's collection point before dawn to exchange it for money. The quality will be poor after the sun comes out.

That night, when he reached the halfway point of the mountain, he heard someone sobbing nearby.

Logically speaking, the mountains at night are not quiet; the wind rustles through the treetops, insects chirp, and all sorts of subtle sounds fill the air. Yet, the low sobbing sound somehow pierced through the curtain of nature and reached his ears.

He held his breath and listened intently, but the sound echoed through the valley, making it difficult to discern its direction. He wandered around the area for a while before finally, under the beam of his flashlight, he discovered three living people in a large crater caused by a flash flood.

The pit was two zhang high, straight up and down, with bare mud walls. There was nowhere to grab onto, and ordinary people couldn't climb out at all.

Tang Ning tugged at the vines hanging from the tree next to her. After confirming that they were sturdy, she swung them a few times and reached the bottom of the pit.

Once he had a firm footing at the bottom of the pit, he raised his flashlight. In the light, he saw three boys of similar age huddled together, their faces pale and their lips purple from the cold.

After talking with them, I learned that the three of them were high school students in country E and were back in China for vacation.

All three were novice hikers who started climbing before dawn and fell into this pit that morning, having been trapped for over ten hours. Deep in the mountains, there was no cell phone signal, no way to call for help, and no other travelers had passed by.

Tang Ning asked, "Didn't you see the notice at the foot of the mountain? It just rained yesterday, and the mountain is closed today. No one is allowed to go up."

The three men lowered their heads and remained silent.

Tang Ning was convinced; he really was a terrible cook with a huge addiction.

He touched one of the boys' hands; it was ice-cold, and he knew something was wrong.

Tang Ning's rope wasn't long enough, so he had to grab onto vines and climb up to run down the mountain to find rescue.

On the way, they met a fellow villager who was also collecting medicinal herbs. They borrowed a rope and asked the villager to go down the mountain and notify the town police station.

These three people have been trapped on the mountain for so long. It's too cold in the mountains, and they're not dressed warmly enough. Tang Ning is worried that they'll get hypothermia and need to see a doctor as soon as possible.

Tang Ning returned, took a rope, and pulled two people up.

The last one was the owner who made Tang Ning hear the crying. He had sprained his ankle, and in the end, Tang Ning carried him on his back and climbed up by holding onto a rope.

After that, Tang Ning carried him on his back the whole way, while the other two boys supported each other. The group walked for two hours before finally reaching the foot of the mountain.

At this moment, the police car was already waiting there.

........

Tang Ning said, "He kept crying, and I don't even know when he took the photos."

Jiang Yin now understood why the shooting angle was so strange. It turned out that the camera was being shot from behind, clearly a side profile shot taken while Tang Ning was looking to the side.

Tang Ning started eating, and casually clicked her tongue, "Look at all the trouble he's going through. Why didn't he just come and ask during the exhibition?"

Jiang Yin looked at the photo, then at Tang Ning, and compared them before saying, "You've changed a lot, it's normal that he doesn't recognize you."

"Yes, it's been ten years."

Tang Ning is from Guizhou Province and also likes spicy food.

The food suited his taste perfectly, and he ate with relish while chatting with Li Tianmu on WeChat.

Jiang Yin glanced at the food Qin Heming had packed; it was all her favorite dishes.

She turned her attention to her work on the computer, her mind completely unmoved.

After all, we've eaten so many meals together since we were kids; even if you have a bad memory, you should remember them by now.

Besides, he was so clever; he just happened to remember it, so there was no special meaning behind it.

Li Tianmu was very talkative, and Tang Ning's phone kept ringing all afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, after finishing their business, Tang Ning silenced her phone; it was just too noisy.

Tang Ning was discussing a science and technology industrial park, a comprehensive and preferential incubation base established by the state to support the development of high-tech industries. The project was hastily launched a few years ago, but then inexplicably shelved, remaining unfinished ever since.

Before Tang Ning came to Shennan, she had heard rumors that the project was about to restart, and she even asked a former colleague to keep an eye on things. Now that Li Tianmu is involved, their circle of contacts is naturally more well-informed, so entrusting this matter to him should be more reliable.

Li Tianmu readily agreed, saying that he himself was also paying attention to this project.

Chen Wang arrived around 3 p.m.

He walked in and called out, "Hey bosses, look who I've brought for you!"